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Cornflakes Packet In My Shoe
Somewhat late in life I decided to write a book based on an idea which had been kicking around in my head for some time. The story concerns some antique dealers who meet every Friday at 4am in the Caledonian Antique Market in Bermondsey in all weathers. The group spent a lot of time laughing about the futility of trying to deal with the rain, frost, and snow. When not soaking wet we are cold and shivery but turn up every week without fail because they love every minute of it.
A buying trip to East Anglia turned out to be very eventful and profitable with several twists in the plot which it is hoped that the reader will enjoy. The results of this trip enabled us to form a business partnership with a view to making our fortunes.
An unexpected inheritance enabled us to open a Mayfair showroom and stock it with our specialities of furniture, pictures, and ceramics.
Later books may reveal the outcome of this venture.£3.50 -
Consenting Adult
Jonathan is hired to teach a creative writing class at the local college. Out of nowhere comes an idea: what if there was a modern-day Moses and he heard that God wanted him to rewrite the Ten Commandments now? What would they be if they were written today?
Jonathan is intrigued by the idea but his students are sceptical. So, sit back, enjoy the journey, and see if the Commandments get written. And, if they do get written, find out what the present-day Commandments end up being.
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Condemned
What happens when the “Circle of Life” goes horrendously awry?
Murder- we see it splashed across the tabloids all of the time. We try and escape reading about the horrors of appalling crimes by clicking out of such articles or by physically closing our newspapers. It’s easier not to think about it; it’s best to scroll down to another article; it’s better to turn the page.
But what if you don’t have the option to “turn the page” and escape the atrocity of murder? What are you supposed to do if you’re Susanna, blissfully ignorant at home until you receive the phone call on that devastating night, telling you that your son has been murdered? What are you supposed to do if like Susanna, it’s your child’s smiling face splashed across the tabloids with corroding words like “Murdered”, entwined with his image? Who are you supposed to turn to, when like Susanna, you are the mother who has to face her son’s killer in Court?
Susanna is facing the unendurable; the extent of her agony is incomprehensible. As a result, people don’t really know what to say to her. People appear to tire of the strained small talk and silences; one by one, those around Susanna are retreating.
It is time for Susanna to reclaim her voice and finally be heard.
The very least that we can do is listen.
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Climax
The world’s condition is worsening. Ineffectual leadership. Rampant greed. Increasing indifference.
“Do something!” six students protest continually.
At last, graduation from the elitist prep-school. Time to put up or shut up.
How to generate raging torrents of cash? ‘Bettering’ the planet won’t come cheap.
Intuitive Molly asks, “What sells, always has and always will?”
She proposes a possible new invention complete with a name. Her genius cousin and four best friends feel she is so right. They join in, faithfully spending fifteen years and seventy million pounds of their own money successfully strategizing their product into a world powerhouse.
Molly has it all; a child, extended family and her life’s work. Things are going great. And then suddenly they are not. Molly thought she and her cousin had left their cultish family behind long ago but she is wrong. She is unaware of their lurking intent and the depth of pure evil.
Deep emotional loss sets Molly on a dramatic path. It takes a strong mind to deter from one’s upbringing and conditioning. Does Molly have what it takes to literally save mankind?
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Cambridge Brains
Under the surface of an outwardly successful, highly educated family lies quiet suffering and spiritual isolation.
Mark and Emma have an unarticulated problem within their marriage for which neither feels able to seek help. A business trip to India provides a healing process for Mark while an encounter with an old friend on Dartmoor does the same for Emma.
Self-effacing Uncle Jonathan, a retired vicar, can no longer endure to live with his wife. He fears the harshness of social judgement and is tormented with feelings of inadequacy. However, he knows he must act and cope with any resulting difficulties. He tries hard to make a success of his new life but his estranged wife is determined to keep him in a state of wretchedness. Then a miracle occurs.
Mary, an attractive widow living in Cheltenham, has an unscrupulous son with designs on her wealth. Frightened by the prospect of being bullied into signing a document which would hand over her house but, at the same time, desperate for discretion and avoidance of shame, she turns to her new neighbours, Mark and Emma, for advice.
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Bonfire Night
A bonfire blazes in Outback Australia. Two men sit all night in its glow, commemorating their dead friend. He blew his head off with a shotgun. Bonfires burn across Lewes, England, commemorating Guy Fawkes Night. As crowds of revellers lurch through the streets, a boy stands teetering on the ledge of a bridge, waiting for the train to pass below. Two different lives, two different places, one story to tell.
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Blood in the Snow
A young woman stands in the snow, holding a small child in her arms. She implores the passing lorries to take the child. A shot rings out; the woman’s final thought is that her little girl is safe. Yana grows up in a happy household in England but, in her teens, determines to go back to Serbia to find her roots. The family reluctantly support her wishes. Michael; his wife, Sue; and their three children play an integral part in the story and help her come to terms with her background, which ultimately touches all their lives.
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Beyond the Division
Pilsung and Soon are star-crossed lovers. He is from South Korea, and she is from the North. Their love is so forbidden that when Pilsung tells his boss, she is immediately worried about the police finding out.
Soon escapes from North Korea after the shutdown of the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and plans to fake her own death with the help of a police officer in South Korea. Pilsung is out of the loop and spends most of the story looking for his love, not realizing she is supposed to be dead.
Soon has been watching Pilsung’s every move, waiting for the right time to reveal herself, only to be heartbroken when she misunderstands a close bond between friends. She decides to leave him, but Pilsung flies to Yanbian to look for her and attempts to smuggle himself into North Korea.
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Between Two Funerals
A story of obsessional love.
David returns from his grandfather’s funeral in Yorkshire to his home in London to find a letter that proves to be the beginning of a significant relationship with Hedley, a colleague with whom David has had little previous contact.
After a few years, the relationship ends abruptly leaving David emotionally adrift. Unable to accept the fact that the relationship is over, David waits for Hedley’s return.
Despite advice from friends and an extended period of counselling, David’s single-minded resolve to stoically set his sights on Hedley’s eventual return leads to a shocking development and another funeral.
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Before The Pearly Gates
Miles Appleby is a complicated and tormented soul. A successful oral surgeon at an exclusive practice in Chicago, he has always been driven by the high expectations of his father. Increasingly, he feels isolated and slowly comes to the realization that he leads an empty life. Miles, however, carries a secret that involved a woman who Bill, his close friend, had been seeing shortly before he suddenly left his homeland for another life in London.
Ever plagued by relationships that fail, Miles meets an engaging woman, Juanita, who finally ignites something in his life giving him warmth and meaning. In a strange turn of events while attending Bill’s untimely funeral near London, he gains a different perspective as to why certain events unfolded, and the secret that Miles had been so careful to protect is slowly revealed by a person called Laura. As the story reaches its zenith, the stories of these four characters finally become pieced together.
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Beaten at Birth
Precious, the oldest of ten suffered all of her life. Her biggest fear of landing in a care home had now become true. All of her belongings were thrown in the rubbish, along with all of her memories. A stroke that was not treated, due to misconduct, had left her with slight dementia. The system was prepared to pay £900 a week for a care home she didn’t want to be in. She would have been better off in prison, at least you get parole in prison. The care home had thrown away the key. Her siblings and son had tried in vain to get her out, but her oldest daughter and granddaughters were insistent that she stay there, so they could get on with their dubious business.
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Baz, Ant and the Boys
The summer started with ‘Brown Sugar’ and it ended with The Who at The Oval cricket ground, where they turned live rock music into a mesmerizing, pulsating miracle. And bound up in this heady atmosphere of 1971 was the pure, unadulterated love of football and all its absurdities, where sex, snakebite and the slide tackle scythed their way through everything.
Shortfall College, a gaunt and brooding building, reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution cut a dark slice of shadow across the South London sky. It was here that an oddball, dotty selection of students set out in search of the Holy Grail – the South London Intercollegiate Cup – aided by spurious tactics and hindered by countless distractions.
From Marlene, the landlord’s wife, a goddess and vixen with a predilection for ice who couldn’t keep her hands off Baz, to Norman, a ringer, with a rather unhealthy lopsided grin who completely snapped when trying to remove an opponent’s ear with his teeth.
Driven ever onwards by The Bear, their captain and inspiration, and Baz, his defensive henchman, they try to rein in the Ant, who possesses the aerodynamics of a spear and a footballing philosophy whereby the ball isn’t absolutely necessary.
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